Monday, May 04, 2009

I found this recipe in Good Housekeeping Magazine the last time I was sitting in my doctor's office waiting for my appointment. I have one of the few physicians in town that actually has good reading material for his patients.

The recipe looks complicated, and really, it's not. Just grab all of your ingredients, line them up on your work surface and go for it! Believe me, if you l♥ve coconut like I do...there is no way you are going to be disappointed. This is one of those cakes that becomes a family tradition...asked for over and over and over.

Directions

Follow directions for Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake, substituting coconut milk for regular milk. While cake is baking, prepare filling. Stir together sugar, sour cream, milk, and coconut in a bowl until well blended. Remove cake layers from oven and allow cake to remain in pans as you prepare to stack and fill. Remove first layer and invert onto cake plate. Using the wrong end of a wooden spoon, poke holes approximately 1-inch apart until entire cake has been poked. Spread 1/3 of filling mixture on cake layer. Top with second layer, repeat process. Top with last layer and repeat process again. (As I stack layers together I stick them with toothpicks to prevent cake from shifting).

Prepare 7-Minute Frosting. Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top and sides of cakes with additional coconut.

Yield: 1 (3-layer) cake

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ease of preparation: Easy

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups sifted self-rising flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks. Cool completely and spread cake layers with your favorite frosting to make a 3-layer cake.

Yield: 3 layer cakes

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ease of preparation: Easy

7-Minute Frosting:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup water

2 egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Mimi how would I know if the stool is a Cosco? Is there a certain place it would be marked. I was going to paint and keep it myself, but I wonder now if I should put it in my shop instead, as is. It has some rust and paint drips on it, so not sure if anyone would want it in this condition. ♥

I absolutely love coconut cake. This one looks extra scrumptious. Only problem is if I made this cake I wouldn't stop eating until it was gone and then I would be 10 pounds heavier. Oh dear.Have a great week.Charlotte

Agh I love coconut! This looks soooo good. Thanks so much for the tip about getting my cat to stop digging in the plants. I haven't heard the suggestion of putting rocks in there so I'll have to try it!

♥Mimi♥

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Mercy helps you understand why a person did something, and have compassion for him, without approving of what he did. ~Author unknown

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What, you too? I thought I was the only one.”~ C.S. Lewis

Rosemary JOY

If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. ~author unknown

"I want first of all...to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact - to borrow from the language of the saints - to live "in grace" as much of the time as possible. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony. I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God..." ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

"...generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand..." The Velveteen Rabbit (the Skin Horse)

To believe is to know that every day is a new beginning. It is to trust that miracles happen, and dreams really do come true. To believe is to see angels dancing among the clouds; to know the wonder of a stardust sky and the wisdom of the man in the moon. To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart,the innocence of a child’s eyes and the beauty of an aging hand. For it is through their teachings we learn to love. To believe is to find the strength and courage that lies within us. When it is time to pick up the pieces and begin again. To believe is to know we are not alone; that life is a gift and this is our time to cherish it. To believe is to know that wonderful surprises are just waiting to happen, and all our hopes and dreams are within reach. If only we believe. ~ Author Unknown

"What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friends is unconditional love, the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn't supposed to touch the bone." ~Anna Quindlen, Living Out Loud.

For my mother. I will always and forever love you. I will always and forever miss you...

"I must make my own way..."

~Beatrix Potter

To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never, in a word to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common, this is to be my symphony. - William Henry Channing

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler